Ecclestone blames McLaren for Honda woes

NEWS STORY13/09/2017

He might not be centre stage any longer, but Bernie Ecclestone still knows how to grab the spotlight.

Talking ahead of a weekend which is due to see McLaren finally divorce Honda - or is it a "conscious uncoupling" - Ecclestone has said that the Woking team must take its share of the blame for the break-up of the relationship.

"The Renault deal is all done," he told the Daily Mail of the reported deal which will see McLaren switch to the French manufacturer's engines, while Honda switches its supply to Toro Rosso.

"Alonso staying is super news," he said of the move, which will keep the Spaniard on board at Woking. "But I can't see why McLaren will be any happier with Renault than they are with Honda. It wasn't Honda's fault things didn't work out, it was McLaren's.

"Every day they had a fight about everything, instead of working with them, which was a little bit stupid."

We're not sure where he gets the info about the fights every day but surely the numbers speak for themselves.

Since returning to F1, Honda has contested 53 Grands Prix with McLaren.

From 102 starts... don't forget those times the car never made it to the grid, the team endured 31 DNFs, though there were also occasions when the car was classified even though it never lasted the distance.

Those 102 starts resulted in a total of 114 points, the bulk (76) coming in the second season, while even the maiden season saw the Woking outfit score 27 points, whereas it currently has just 11.

Surely the sort of numbers that would cause rows and put any marriage to the test.

READERS COMMENTS

"I think Bernie has it backwards. I can't believe how tolerant and quiet McLaren have been about the whole Honda saga over the past 3 years. Imagine if instead of McLaren and Honda, it was Red Bull and Renault with the exact same predicament! As it is, Red Bull bleats continuously about being down a few horsepower, let alone having an engine that is down lots of horsepower and is unreliable to boot."